http://goitaly.about.com/od/christmasinitaly/a/christmas.htm

Buon Natale!

Christmas season in Italy is traditionally celebrated December 24-January 6, or Christmas Eve through Epiphany. This follows the pagan season of celebrations that started with Saturnalia, a winter solstice festival, and ended with the Roman New Year, the Calends. However there are lots of Christmas things to see during December prior to Christmas, many starting on December 8, the Feast Day of the Immaculate Conception.

Italian Christmas Traditions

Although Babbo Natale (Father Christmas) and giving presents on Christmas are becoming more common, the main day for gift giving is Epiphany, the 12th day of Christmas when the three Wise Men gave Baby Jesus their gifts. In Italy, presents are brought by La Befana, who arrives in the night to fill children’s stockings. More about Epiphany and La Befana

Christmas decorations and trees are becoming more popular in Italy. Lights and decorations are often seen starting around December 8, the Feast Day of the Immaculate Conception, or even the end of November. The main focus of decorations continues to be the presepe, Nativity scene or creche. Almost every church has a presepeand they are often found outdoors in a piazza or public area, too.

More about Presepi – Italian Nativity Scenesand where to see them.

Traditionally, a meatless dinner is eaten on Christmas eve with the family, followed by a living nativity scene and midnight mass. In parts of southern Italy a seven fishes dinner is traditionally served on Christmas Eve. Traditional bonfires are often held on Christmas Eve in the main square of town, especially in mountain areas. Dinner on Christmas day is usually meat based.

Christmas trees, lights, Nativity Cribs, and Christmas celebrations in Italy:

Although you’ll find Christmas celebrations all over Italy, these are some of the most unusual or most popular Christmas celebrations, events, and decorations.

Naples is one of the best cities to visit for Nativity cribs. Naples and southern Italy have other Christmas traditions, including the Christmas Eve dinner of the seven fish dishes, although it doesn’t really have to be seven fishes and not everyone serves it. Naples Nativity Pictures

Bagpipe and flute players, zampognari and pifferai, are a part of Christmas celebrations in Rome, Naples, and southern Italy. They often wear traditional colorful costumes with sheepskin vests, long white stockings, and dark cloaks. Many of them travel from the mountains of the Abruzzo regionto play outside churches and in popular city squares.

Rome is another top city to visit during the Christmas season. There’s a large Christmas market, nativity displays, and several huge Christmas trees. Here’s what to see in Rome during Christmas Season.

Saint Peter’s Squarein Vatican City hosts the popular midnight mass given by the Pope inside Saint Peter’s Basilica. Those in the square see it on big screen TV. At noon on Christmas day the Pope gives his Christmas message from the window of his apartment overlooking the square. A large tree and nativity scene are erected in the square before Christmas.

Torinois one of the best places for lights. Over 20 kilometers of streets and squares are illuminated by some of the best illumination artists in Europe from late November through early January.

Near the top of Monte Ingino, above Gubbio in central Italy’s Umbria region, shines a huge Christmas tree, 650 meters tall and made up of more than 700 lights. In 1991 the Guinness Book of Records named it “The World’s Tallest Christmas Tree.” The tree is topped by a star that can be seen for nearly 50 kilometers. Tree lights are turned on every year on 7 December, the evening before the feast of the Immaculate Conception.

Città di Castello, in Umbria, celebrates Christmas Eve in on the Tiber River. Towards evening, a group of canoeists, each dressed as Father Christmas, with their canoes illuminated by lights, make their way along the river to the bridge at Porta San Florido where a crib is suspended over the water. When they get out of their canoes, they give small presents to the children gathered there.

Lago Trasimeno, also in Umbria, celebrates with Soul Christmas, Umbria Gospel Festival, December 8 – January 6.
Read more about Christmas in Umbria

May the Magic of Christmas be yours today, tonight & all year long…

The Magic of the Holidays!

http://goitaly.about.com/od/festivalsandevents/a/newyears.htm

New Year’s Eve in Italy – La Festa di San Silvestro

La Festa di San Silvestro is celebrated December 31 on New Year’s Eve. As with most Italian festivals, food plays a major role. Families and friends get together for a huge feast. The star of the dinner is lentils, symbolizing money and good fortune for the coming year. Traditionally, the dinner in many parts of Italy also includes a cotechino, a large spiced sausage, or a zampone, stuffed pig’s trotter. The pork symbolizes the richness of life in the coming year.

Fireworks and Dancing
Huge midnight fireworks displays celebrate the coming of the new year. Most towns have public displays in a central square but private parties will also include firecrackers or sparklers, too, and will continue for a long time. Naples is known for having one of the best and biggest New Year’s fireworks displays in Italy. Some smaller towns build a bonfire in the central square where villagers will congregate into the early morning. If you’re near the coast, lake, or river you will hear boats and ships blowing their horns.
Dancing is also popular and many towns have public music and dancing before the fireworks. Rome, Milan, Bologna, Palermo and Naples put on huge popular outdoor shows with pop and rock bands. These events can sometimes be seen on television, too.

More New Year’s Eve Traditions in Italy
Guests of private or public parties are sometimes entertained with a game called “Tombola”, similar to Bingo.
The New Year is also celebrated with spumante or prosecco, Italian sparkling wine. New Years parties, whether public or private, will often last until sunrise in order to watch the first sunrise of the newborn year.
An old custom that is still followed in some places, especially in the south, is throwing your old things out the window to symbolize your readiness to accept the New Year. So, keep an eye out for falling objects if you’re walking around near midnight!
Oh, one more thing, don’t forget to wear your red underwear to ring in the new year! They say it’ll bring you luck in the coming year.

Page 2: Celebrations in Rome, Rimini, Naples and Capri, Bologna, Venice, and Florence

To read the interview, just click on the link below.  Interesting!

http://blog.lunchclik.com/isabellas/

I look back to my time living in Italy and the reality of being almost completely surrounded by the Mediterranean Sea and the Adriatic Sea and the beauty of Italy’s interior landscape being filled with lakes and streams that seafood is so very Italian.  I personally lived on the south side of Lago di Garda which is the largest lake in all of Italy for several years in a town named Desanzano where I became Italian.

So “my” Italy when it comes to food, is driven so well by the freshest seafood one can find anywhere in the world.  Like their commitment to making pasta and bread daily, they pride themselves on only serving the freshest of fish in their homes and in their restaurants. 

So for me, my thoughts are to say thank you to all of our guests, as when we looked at our mix of food at Isabella’s Italia, we realized that more than 40% of the guests choices were based upon Seafood.  For this I personally am so very proud that our guests have spoken through their choices and like in Italy are enjoying one of the main components of being a great Italian Restaurant, Seafood.

I am so excited that our local guests of Frisco & Plano enjoy our Seafood Italian Style!

Kenyon Price, Proprietor

Isabella’s Italia Restaurant & Wine Bar

Il Moretto Dining Room at Palazzo Arzaga. Bellissima!

Moretto da Brescia

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Alessandro Bonvicino (also Buonvicino) (1498 – December 22, 1554), more commonly known as Il Moretto da Brescia, was an Italian Renaissance painter of Brescia and Venice.

St. Justina, adored by the donor
Kunsthist. Mus., Vienna.

Moretto da Brescia The Holy Family with Saint Anthony of Padua, oil on panel.

Moretto’s family house in Rovato.

Contents [hide] 1 Biography 2 Public collections 3 References 4 Sources

[edit] Biography

He was born at Rovato, in Brescian territory, and studied first under Fioravante Ferramola. Others state he trained with Vincenzo Foppa. His brothers Pietro and Jacopo were also painters. The 1911 Britannica claims he apprenticed with Titian in Venice and that Moretto modelled his earlier portrait-painting style on the Venetian style. On the other hand, the style also resembles that of Giorgione or late Bellini. The 1911 Britannica also states that he conceived a great enthusiasm for Raphael, though he never traveled to Rome; on the other hand, his classical serenity resembles that shown by Leonardo and his followers in Lombardy such as, for example, Bramantino.^[1] He may have consulted with his contemporary Girolamo Savoldo.^[2]

Moretto excelled more in sedate altarpieces than in narrative action, and more in oil-painting than in fresco, although he painted fine frescoes depicting the lollygagging daughters of Count Martinengo in one of the palaces near Brescia. In 1521, he worked with Girolamo Romanino in the Cappella del Sacramento in the old cathedral of Brescia, where Moretto completed a Last Supper, Elijah in the Desert, and a Fall of Manna.^[3] He was active during 1522-24 in Padua.

He painted alongside with Lorenzo Lotto at Santa Maria Maggiore in Brescia. Also in Brescia, he completed a Five Virgin Martyrs and his masterpiece, the Assumption of the Madonna for the church of San Clemente; a Coronation of the Madonna with four saints (c. 1525) for the church of Santi Nazaro e Celso; a St. Joseph for Santa Maria della Grazie; and a St Nicholas of Ban for Santa Maria de Miracoli. He collaborated with Floriano Ferramola in the decoration of the dome of the cathedral in Brescia.

In the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna is a St Justina (once ascribed to Pordenone); in the Staedel Museum, Frankfort, the Madonna enthroned between Sts Anthony and Sebastian; in the Berlin Museum, a colossal Adoration of the Shepherds, and a large votive picture (one of the master’s best) of the “Madonna and Child,” with infant angels and other figures above the clouds, and below, amid a rich landscape, two priests; in the National Gallery, London, St Bernardin and other saints and two impressive portraits.

Throughout his career his works display an internal oscillation between the traditions of the Venetian and Central Italian schools. Simultaneously he looked at the form and colour of Venetian artists such as Titian and Palma Vecchio (1480–1528) whilst his classicising, sweet intensity earned him the name ‘Raphael of Brescia‘. Though there is some uncertainty regarding his studio, he took on a number of pupils the most important of whom was the portraitist Giovanni Battista Moroni (c.1520-1578). Il Moretto is stated to have been a man of great personal piety, preparing himself by prayer and fasting for any great act of sacred art, such as the painting of the Virgin-mother. His dated works extend from 1524 to 1554, and he taught the portrait-painter Giambattista Moroni. He also influenced Callisto Piazza.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMav2C1maMo

Three Course

Venetian Carnevale Menu

La Cucina Italiana di Venezia

 Prima

 Mussels in a White Wine Tomato Broth

 Bruschetta, Grilled Bread with Oven Dried Tomatoes, Goat Cheese & Pesto

 Spinach Salad with Cranberries, Walnuts, Gorgonzola tossed in Raspberry Vinaigrette

 Secondi

 Black Risotto with Calamari

 Pan Roasted Duck Breast with Sour Cherry Wine Sauce, with Gorgonzola Polenta & Spinach

 Pork Cheeks Ravioli in Pork Ragu finished with White Truffle Oil

 Seafood Medley of, Mussels, Clams & Shrimp in a light Garlic, White Wine Broth served with Pappardelle Pasta

 Dolce

 Tiramisu, rich dessert made of Lady Fingers, dipped in Espresso, with layers of Mascarpone Cream

 Ricotta Cheese Cake with  Pistachio Crust

 Budina Vanilla, a delicate Custard with Caramel

 Veneto – Vini

Terre Deor, Prosecco, D.O.C., Glass $8. Bottle $25

Kris, Pinot Grigio, delle Venezia, “Christina Aguilera’s Favorite”, Glass $9.  Bottle $31

Marco Felluga, Pinot Grigio, “the Best Found”, Glass $14.  Bottle $48

Satori Montegradella Valpolicella, Glass $8.  Bottle $31

Biscardo, Ripasso Valpolicella, Bottle $44

Palazzo delle Torre, Veronese, “Super Veronese”. Bottle $64

Visit Isabella’s Italia for a Venetian Carnival with costumes, special wines, food from Veneto, and special Masks & Costumes!

Masks of Venice for Carnival